Missing the code

The truth is out already. Priya Ranjan Das Munshi was playing pope vis-?-vis The Da Vinci Code in the hope of currying favour with the Catholic-born lady of 10 Janpath. But he had forgotten a tiny detail from Sonia Gandhi?s last birthday. (Or perhaps he was not invited?) On December 9, 2005, when Madam turned 59, the suave communist leader, Sitaram Yechury, gifted her a paperback bearing the title, The Da Vinci Code. Between running the party and the National Advisory Council (the office-of-profit controversy did not feature in anybody?s imagination then), besides managing the scores of trusts and foundations, Sonia finished reading the book and enjoyed Dan Brown?s craft thoroughly. The little ignorance proved costly. What Priyada had calculated would secure him a permanent membership to Madam?s coterie boomeranged badly. Sonia apparently asked him in her gently firm (or firmly gentle) way to pay attention to more pressing issues rather than play the censor board chief. Just when Priyada was thinking of celebrating his wife?s election to the West Bengal assembly...

Friendly gestures

Of all the by-elections to the Rajya Sabha lined up, the one from Maharashtra ? arising out of the sudden death of Pramod Mahajan ? has become the centre of attraction and of much speculation and lobbying. Mahajan was elected on the principle of proportional representation. But his party, the BJP, will lose the seat this time to the ruling Congress-NCP combine since the proportional representation principle will stand virtually nullified in the case of a simple majority-versus-minority vote, now that there is a lone seat on offer. This is where the players spring into action. The Maharashtra Congress chief, Prabha Rao, and the state?s current governor, S.M. Krishna, are both in contention. But the NCP chief, Sharad Pawar, has promised his support to the BJP if a member of Mahajan?s family is put up by the party. Ditto, said the Congress CM, Vilas Rao Deshmukh, although he has no support from the party either in the state or in New Delhi. Since the principle of proportional representation is enshrined in the Constitution, it is the Election Commission?s responsibility to see that the rules are followed. But the EC going into a solution-finding huddle is an unlikely scenario. So the question is: Would Rahul Mahajan step into his father?s shoes?

Fooled by faith

Strange are the workings of the Hindu mind, or more precisely, the Hindu vote-bank. Many will remember the angry protests by devout Hindus ? of course, led by the sangh parivar ? following the arrest of the Kanchi sankaracharya, Jayendra Saraswati. The villain of the piece was the stately lady called J. Jayalalithaa. The sangh and its extended family demonized her quite thoroughly for bringing false charges against the holy man. Given the history, one would have given amma?s party very little chance in the Mylapore seat of the Tamil Nadu assembly. The Kanchi math is located in Mylapore, a heavily Hindu-dominated seat with a sitting DMK MLA. But Jaya?s candidate romped home victorious this time. Guess what happened to the BJP contestant? His deposit got forfeited.

Worship on air

To come back briefly to Priya Ranjan Das Munshi and his ways with his party chief, the latest in Mission Please-Madam is to bombard his fiefdom ? Doordarshan and All India Radio, that is ? with references to Sonia Gandhi. For instance, when Sonia Gandhi took oath recently after winning from Rae Bareilly, DD and AIR relayed the entire length of the ceremony, and the event was listed in the Lok Sabha schedule as ?Shrimati Sonia Gandhi to take oath...?, and so on. For all other MPs, it is either ?newly elected members to take oath? or ?the following member(s) to take oath?. Madam?s response is unknown.

Stunned by the numbers

Here are a few numbers that the senior faculty members of AIIMS have worked out. If the Union HRD minister?s reservations proposal goes through, then only nine out of over one lakh candidates who sit the AIIMS entrance test would get admission in the general category. The rest of the 400-plus seats would be filled by the various reserved categories. Crunch that!

Happy to talk

At the swearing-in ceremony of the West Bengal cabinet, the effusive Biman Bose said something which would be better suited for the in-camera discussions at Alimuddin Street. When Sitaram Yechury tried to tell him the same, Bose is known to have said, Ami bolbo, ami bolbo, ami bolbo. Yechury replied in the only way possible: ?Ami shunbo na, ami shunbo na, ami shunbo na.?

Old man and the sea of lost memories

The Bharatiya Janata Party must do something about its lack of leaders and speakers in parliament. One feels quite sorry for Atal Bihari Vajpayee every time his party falls back on him to counter the ruling UPA. The pauses are getting longer and the facts more muddled than ever. The party must have a little more compassion towards the failing health and memory of a man who has served it for so long. Take the recent instance when Vajpayee had to speak on the adjournment motion on the Doda killings. The poor old man completely forgot that he was no longer in the ruling party, and kept pointing at the treasury benches and calling them the virodhi paksh. He asked the ?opposition? to cooperate with his ?ruling? party, since their goals were the same when it came to terrorism. Realization dawned soon, however. And then Vajpayee said, ?Ab main jo nahin keh raha woh Advaniji kahenge.? (Advaniji will now say what I have not spoken.)